Mixing method and apparatus



Sqf- 24, 1940 G. w. NEWTON n MIXING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Feb. 1, 1939 I5 Sheets-Sheet 2 swf 24, 1940- G. w. Nr-:wToN

MIXING METHOD AND APPARATUS v Filed Feb. 1, 1939 y 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Mmm Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED 'STATES PATENT for-Fics MIXING METHOD AND APPARATUS George W. Newton, Baltimore, Md., assignorto vCrown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation. of New York Application February Y1, 1939, seriall No. 254,102

8 Claims.

- mainderfof the Acontainer with carbonated water.

Machines have heretofore been developed and usedfor mixing the relatively heavy syrup with the upper strata of carbonated water. However, such prior machines .have ,not been altogether satisfactory, due to the fact that even with the most thorough mixing Which such machines can give the bottle contents, it has still been possible for an almost imperceptible layer orV coating of syrup to adhere to the .wall ofthe lower portion of the bottle; that is, the portion of the bottle in which the syrup is originally placed.

Aside from .possible improper flavor resulting from the lackl ofA complete distribution of syrup, an objection to such a .coatingof syrup has occured in plants where light sensitive .inspecting mechanisms are used to scanzthe bottle for Vthe purpose of ascertaining whether any'foreign matter is present in the bottle contents.` One widely used inspection.machinerotates-the bottle, and then holds .the bottle. against rotation `as itsfcon- 0 .tents continuetojrotate, and whilefjhthe bottle is moving past a photo-electric cell: .By this arrangement the entire `cnontentsfof ythe bottle are slowly swirled in front of thephoto-electric cell.

In order to be completelyveifective 'in detecting extremely small-.fragments of foreign'v matter in the bottle contents, the inspection mechanism must 4be so sensitive to the passage of light .through the bottle that it will valso respond to the shadowed or darkened'area created-in the lower .portion of the liquid when the syrup left upon the wall yof" the ybottleby prior mixers vis moved 01T the bottle wallinto the liquid due to the rotation, vofathe bottle. The result is that suchbottles ymay be discarded by the inspection mechanism, causing an entirely v unnecessary waste: j'

The principal object of the present invention is -toprovide a mixing apparatus and method which will thoroughly mix'the contents vof a container and, more particularly, will thoroughly mix all syrup lin a carbonated beverage container with the carbonated Water in the container.

It has beenfoundthat the removal of all syrup 'from the' walllof a bottleandrits vthorough dis- (Cfl. 259-54) tribution Ythroughout the contents may be accomplished by tilting or inverting the bottle, and then rapidly spinning ythe bottle or other container about its longitudinal axis and permitting 'the contents of the bottle to spin while the bottle is stationary. The `initial rotation of the bottle to cause the Ycontents to spin, and the sub-sequent operation of permittingthe bottle to be stationary or rotate at a lower speed while the contents continue lto spin, causes the walls of the bottle to be thoroughly washed or scoured by the still spinning contents, so that no syrup will be left coated on the bottle wall.

In some instances, the spinning may be performed prior totilting, or the spinning may occur both before and aftertilting. Also the position Yof the bottle during spinning lmay be other than upright and in a vertical plane.

Another object of the invention is to provide a container clamping device including means which 20 -will enable the container to rotate at high speed on its longitudinal axis without possibility ofthe container falling from the clamping device.

A still further Aobject, of the invention is to pro- `vide a bottle clamping device which is adapted to securely clamp containers cf various sizes.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, in which drawings:

Figure .1 is a plan view of al machine of the rpresent invention, portions 0I the machine being shown in horizontal section;

Figure v2 isa vertical sectional View on .the angled line 2-2'of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of a bottle clamping device;

Figure -l is a horizontal sectional View on line 4 4 of Figure, and

Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 3.

The numeral I0 designates thebase ofthe machine in which is journalled a rotary table II. The base I0 also supports a stationary work tableA I2 in front of the rotary table I I. A straight line endless conveyor I3 moves across one side of the Worktable I2, this. conveyor moving bottles or other containers to the present machine from a lillingmachine. A continuously rotating infeed ldial IllV is mounted upon the worktable I2 to remove bottles or other containers from the conveyor I3 and position them upon the container supporting elements I5 carried upon the rotary table I I. An outfeed dial I6 is also 'provided upon the Worktable'IZ to remove successive conthe y tainers from the container supports I5 of the rotary table and position them upon an outfeed conveyor |3a for removal from the machine. A guide plate |201 of usual construction cooperates with the dials I4 and I6 to direct movement of the bottles. The structure described above is disclosed in Patent No. 2,117,226, issued to Robert J. Stewart on May 10, 1938, for Mixing apparatus.

Each of the container supports I5 is similar to the container supports disclosed in the abovementioned Stewart patent, in that it comprises a bottle supporting platform portion 29 including an inwardly and normally upwardly extending shank 2| which is fixed to a horizontal stub shaft 22 journalled in a housing 23 secured to the upper end of a standard 24 fixed on the upper surface of the rotary table |I. Each standard 24 partially encloses a vertical shaft 25 which has a pinion 29 secured to its lower end and beneath the rotary table II. The rotary table is xed to a hollow vertical shaft 21 journaled in the base I9 and is rotated through any suitable driving means, not shown. Such rotation of the rotary table II causes the pinions 26 to move along and about a stationary element or ring 23 having gear teeth provided on a portion of its periphery, the engagement of the teeth of the pinions 26 with the gear teeth on the ring causing the shafts 25 to be rotated. Each shaft 25 is geared to the corresponding stub shaft 22 through beveled gearing within the housing 23 so that the stub shaft 22 will also be rotated to move the bottle support I5 through a vertical plane substantially radial with respect to the rotary table II.

As is the case in the structure disclosed in the above mentioned Stewart patent, each bottle supporting element I5 includes a clamping arm 39 mounted upon a vertical rod 3| which rod is slidable in a bore 32 in the shank 2| of the bottle supporting element. The vertical rod 3| and clamp 30 carried thereby are urged downwardly to clamp the bottle by a spring 33 mounted in the bore 32. The upper end of spring 33 bears against the upper portion of the bore 32, while the lower end of the spring bears upon a block 34 fixed to the lower end of rod 3|. Block 34 has a sliding fit in the lower end of the bore 32 and has a roller 35 journaled therein. As is the case in the Stewart machine, the clamping arm of the container supporting element will be raised during the time that a container supporting element is adjacent the worktable I2 so that the Vcontainer then held clamped on the element I5 may be removed by the outfeed dial I6 and another container placed upon the element by the dial I4. The clamping device is raised during this interval by reason of the fact that the roller 35 on rod 3| will contact with a shelf-like cam track 36 indicated in Figure 1. The cam track 36 is supported upon a segmental plate 31 secured to a stationary post 38 which projects up through the hollow and rotatable shaft 21 as best shown in Figure 2.

In order to permit a container to spin or rotate about its longitudinal axis so that the container contents will spin, the platform 29 of each container supporting element I5 is rotatable with respect Ato the horizontal extension 49 of the shank 2|, as shown in Figures 3 to 5. Referring to these figures, it will be observed that the horizontal extension 49 is provided with a bore 4I adapted to receive'a sleeve 42. Sleeve 42 is provided intermediate its length with an annular exterior groove 43 with whichav locking pin 44 is adapted to engage. Locking pin 44 is rotatable in a transverse bore 45 in the horizontal extension 49 and includes a cut-out portion 46 which will lie flush with the surface of bore 4I when the pin 44 is manually rotated by a handle 41 in a counter-clockwise direction from the position shown in Figure 3. Pin 44 has a sleeve 48 fixed to its end opposite the handle 41, which sleeve has one end of a coil spring 49 secured therein, the opposite end of spring 49 being secured in the extension 40. The coil spring 49 urges the pin 44 in a clockwise direction (Fig. 3) thereby urging the non-cut-away portion of the pin 44 into the bore 4I as shown in Figure 3 and into engagement with the annular groove 43 of sleeve 42 seated in the bore 4I.

Sleeve 42 has a bearing sleeve 50 mounted within the same, the two sleeves being locked together by a transverse pin 5I as best shown in Figure 5. 'Ihe shank 54 of the bottle platform 29 is rotatable in the bearing sleeve 50. Shank 54 is hollow and has a hardened headed pin 55 fixed at the lower end of the bore 56 thus provided. The head of pin 55 extends beneath the bearing sleeve 50, so that the shank 54 may not move upwardly with respect to the sleeves 42 and 50. The lower end of the outer sleeve 4| may be closed by a hardened disc 51. The lower surface of the head of pin 55 is rounded to co-act with disc 51 with a thrust bearing effect.

A coil spring 58 is positioned in the bore 56, the lower end of coil spring 58 resting on the pin 55 and its upper end bearing against a bottle seat disc 59 within the bottle platform 20, normally urging this disc upwardly so that its upper surface will lie ush with the upper surface of the body of platform 2D. Disc 58 is provided with an annular shoulder 6I) extending beneath an overlying flange .6| of the platform 20 so that the upward movement of the disc 59 will be limited. The upward inner edge of the shoulder 6| may be beveled as shown in Figure 3 to center a bottle upon the disc 59 when the bottle is forced downwardlywith the disc 59 by the descent of the clamping arm 3U.

The peripheryof each platform 2D is flanged to form a pulley to engagean 'endless belt a hereinafter described.

I t will be noted that each bottle platform 20 is readily removable from the horizontal extension 46 of the shank 2| simply by slightly rotating the corresponding locking pin 44 to such position that the cut-away portion 46 of the pin will be opposite the annular groove 43 of the bottle holder. It is desirable to have the bottle platforms ZIJ removable from the horizontal extensions 49 in order that a bottle platform with va seating disc 59 to fit the base of -each bottle of a standard size ma;r be provided for each bottle supporting element I5.

The clamping arm 30 of each bottle supporting devicel|5 is of a form shown in Figure 3. That is, each clamping `arm 30 is provided with a socket 65 having a sleeve 66 keyed' therein by means of a transverse pin 61. Each sleeve 66 has a bottle engaging fitting 68' rotatably mounted therein, the fitting 68 being hollow and having a hardened headed pin 69 fixed in its upper end, the head of the pin resting'upon the upper end of the journal sleeve '66 when 'no bottle'is engaged by the clamping arm.` When the clamping arm is in engagement with a bottle, the upper and rounded surface of the head of the pin will bear upon a hardened plate 69a, these two elements thereby serving asalthrustbearng. `The lowerV .portion of fitting 68 is skirted as' indicated at I9 to provide a centering belladaptedl tobear upon the cap secured to the mouth .of the .bottle, The sleeve 66 and the fitting 68 are readily removable from the bore 65 by removalof the pin 6'I, but since bottles of different .sizes are `ordinarily provided with caps vof like' sizes, there is ordinarily no necessity of disassemblingr Ithe clamping head structure. i 1 f When a container is placed upon the .rotatable platform 28 of a bottle supporting'element I5 by theinfeed dial I4, the clamping arm .3.0 of the bottle holder I5 will be raised due `to the fact that the corresponding roller35 isbearing' upon the shelf-like cam track 36..` Because of the continuing rotation of the rotary `table II, the bottle holder I5, movingin a clockwise direction (Fig. 1) will sol move tha-t its roller 35 will pass off cam track 36, permitting the clamp arm 30 to descend. This downward movement of the arm 30, induced by spring 32, will cause the .bottle to move the bottle supporting disc -59 down-` wardly against the action of spring 58 so that the lower edge of the bottle will be pressed` against the beveled surface 6I and thereby held against sidewisemovement. Immediately thereafter, the pinion 26 of the bottle supporting element I5 will engage thelead-in end of the gear teeth upon ring 28 so that the bottle supporting element I5 will be rotated end over end in a plane radial with respect to the axis of rotary'table II. The machine illustrated is of such diameter that each bottle will be rotatedthrough three complete revolutions end over end.v

At the completion of these rotations, a roller 'I5 mounted on a pin 'I6 fixed to arearward extension I'I of the element I5 will move into an upwardly facing U-shaped cam trackl 88 formed on the segmental plate 3'I. i At this moment, the pinion 26 of the bottle supporting element I5 will come opposite a plain or non-toothed portion 8| of the toothed ring 28. The engagement of the roller I5 in the cam track 80 will maintain the bottle supporting element in upright position, with the container in a corresponding position, and at the same moment the periphery of the bottle platform 20 will contact withthe inner runs of a pair of superposedendless belts 85. Belts are continuously moving about a take up pulley 88 and a driven pulley 81 so that the platform 20 and the bottle carried thereby will spin, the bottle rotating on itsv vertical axis.A Driven pulley 8'1 is rotated by a belt 88 driven by a pulley 89 carried by the vertically arranged shaft of a motor 89a, motor 89a being secured to a'plate 90 pivoted at 9| to avertical wall of the worktable I2. The pulley 89 vis of variable speed type, i. e., consists of two discs having conf Vex opposed surfaces, the twodiscs being pressed togetherby an axially arranged spring. The dis-Y tance between the axis of the motor 89 and the axis of pulley 81, journalled on the Worktable, may be varied by swinging the plate 90 by means of a horizontally positioned threaded rod 92 which extends to the forward portion of the worktable I2. Such movement of the motor will vary the speed of rotation of driven pulley 81, because the driving diameter of pulley 89 will thereby be varied, due to the resultant movement toward or away from each other of the discs forming pulley 89.

The endless belts 85 are held under tension by reason of the fact that the take-up pulley 86 is mounted on a swinging arm 95 urged in a direction to tighten the belts 85 by a spring 96 positioned on-a pin 9'I extendingbetween fthe free end of arm 95 and a bracket 98 secured4 to the base of the machine.

As indicated in Figures 2` and A3, yeach endless belt 85 is preferably of substantially double V form, .andthe periphery of each bottle platform 28 includes a central flangefas well as upperand lower flanges-,to engage the ltwo belts; By this arrangement, linitial slippage of ;.the container platform 2,8 with respect to the, rapidly moving endless belts is reduced.

Immediately a platform 29 comes into engage-` ment with the endless belt, the platforml and the bottle or other container mountedthereon will begin to rotate, moving the bottle' with respect to its contents so that a scouring action will be had upon the inner surfacesof the bot-.

tle. The contents of the bottle will then begin to rotate with the bottle itself, this rotationcon- 'tinuing until the bottle platform 28 movesvfrom contact withthe opposite end of the inner run ofjthe belt 85. When the bottle platform moves out of engagement with lthe beltit will cease rotation due to peripheral vcontact ,witha friction block 99 positioned on the inner surfacev of the stationary table I2 and just vpast the driven pulley 8l. Contact of theperiphery of a platform 28 with the block 98 will cause the platformto discontinueits rotation, so that the bottle will stop rotating. However, the contents of the bottle will continue to rotate for a short time thereafter, resulting in -a further scouringaction uponr the wallsof the bottle.V v

The belt 85 is moved at a sufficiently high speed tofrotate each container at a speed ranging from 800 to 1500 `revolutions per minute. However,` it is to be understood thatthe speed range stated is merely set forth for purpose of illustration, and'.

that either a higher or lower speed of rotation may be necessary in some instances, depending upon the size and shape of the bottle, and the consistencyv of its contents. In l short,l the speed of rotation while relatively high, isto be such as to attain the object of the invention, i; e.,

a thorough mixing of the bottle contents, in-` cluding the removal of all syrup deposit from the bottle wall.V

As shown yin Figure 1, the cam88 extends suf-` ficiently far along the path of travel of the bottle holding elements that the latter will `be held upright whileit moves adjacent the outfeed dial I6 and the infeed dial I4. Also, `the stop block 99 is positoned in advance of the lead-in end, of clamp raising cam 36 so that the spinning of the container will bestopped beforel the clamping arm 30 can be lifted by cam 36, which raising occurs just prior to engagement of the bottle by dial I6. f

By first imparting a tilting land uprighting or end-over end movement to the'container, the syrup and water within the Ibottle are thoroughly mixed, except for any thin layer of syrup which may coatthe walls of thebase portion of the auf curved in a vertical plane, a mixing actionwill take place even while a bottle and its contents are spinning together. By the apparatus and method of my present invention, then, a beverage of better ilavor is provided and the contents are in such a state that the bottle cannot possibly be rejected by a light responsive inspection machine because of lack of uniformity of the beverage mixture.

As heretofore stated, the spinning may be performed prior to tilting as in rny application for Mixing method and apparatus, filed July 29, '1938, Serial No. 222,042. Also, the gear teeth upon the ring element 28 may be so arranged that the bottle will be in inverted position when the spinning occurs, as in said prior application, or in some other position than vertical and upright.

Subject matter of my invention disclosed but not claimed herein is claimed in my copending applications for Mixing method and apparatus, Serial No. 222,042, filed July 29, 1938, and Serial No. 282,871, led July 5, 1939.

It will be understood that the terminology used in the specication is for the purpose of description alone, and that the scope of the invention is indicated by the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a container supporting element journalled on said table for tilting movement of a container with respect to said table, means to deliver a container to and remove the same from said element, said element including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to move said container supporting element to tilt the container, means to rotate said gripping means to spin the container about its longitudinal axis, and means to stop spinning movement of the container, whereby the contents will continue to rotate relative to the container.

2. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a container supporting element journalled on said table for tilting movement of a container in a plane substantially radial with respect to said table, means to deliver a container to and remove the same from said element, said element including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to move said container supporting element in a plan-e substantially radial with respect to said table to tilt the container, means to rotate said gripping means to spin the container about its longitudinal axis, and means to stop spinning movement of the container, whereby the contents will continue to rotaterelative to the container.

3. A container supporting element for a beverage mixing apparatus comprising a bracket including upper and lower arms one of which is movable with respect to the other to engage and clamp a container, a downwardly facing container engaging member carried by and rotatable with respect to said upper arm, an upwardly facing cup-like housing member carried by and ro tatable with respect to said lower arm, a central plate in said housing, andV yieldable means to normally holdL said. plate flush with the upper edge of said housing.

4. The method of mixing the contents of a beverage container which comprises successive steps of tilting the container and spinning the container about its longitudinal axis at a relatively high speed of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute while maintaining the container against tilting movement and positively interrupting the vspinning of the container whereby the contents will continue to rotate relativeto the container.

5. The method of mixing the contents of a beverage container which comprises successive steps of repeatedly tilting and uprighting the container and spinning the container about its longitudinal axis at a relatively high speed of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute While maintaining 'the container against tilting movement and positively interrupting the spinning of the container wherebythe contents will continue to rotate relative tor the container.

6. The method of mixing the contents of a beverage container lled with syrup and water which comprises repeatedly tilting and uprighting the container,` and then spinning the container about its longitudinal axisy while maintaining the same against tilting movement, the speed of spinning being of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute whereby to be suiciently high to remove syrup deposit from the container wall.

7. An apparatus for mixing the contents of a beverage container comprising a rotary table, a container supporting element, means on said table to support said element for movement in a plane substantially radial with respect to said rotary table, said supporting means including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to repeatedly move said element in said plane. throughout one portion of its movement with said rotary table in a manner to continuously agitate the contents of a container carried by said container supporting element, and means to spin said gripping means and container at a relatively high speed `of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute about its longitudinal axis and with respect to said container supporting element during another portion of its movement with said table.

8. In a bottle mixing apparatus, the combination with a traveling member, of a container supporting element mounted to move on said traveling member in a plane transversely thereto, means for repeatedly moving said supporting element to tilt and upright the container supported thereby, and means for rotating the container on said supportingelement while the same is in its upright position.

GEORGE W. NEWTON. 

